I never understand why everybody is so negative about ML. I never met him. I only saw him once performing live and he is a good showman and average singer for his age. I read his book but can i say i know ML? So does any ML basher knows him personal to get a good view of the man or do we all believe thats been written in the media? ...i like to hear the person who knows him personally and let us know how the man really is.

I love all beach boys songs and even the solo once. I cant wait to hear ML new solo release. And to be honest...i dont care how the front looks like, i never watch it when listning to the music :-)

Really dude? This has to be the most bought up issue on this entire forum, literally look up "Why do you hate Mike Love" its a previous thread. We don't really need to re-hash this every time someone asks this question... I'm not trying to poo-poo your question but seriously...

Brian knows him personally, as does Melinda Wilson. They were both sued by Mike (Brian repeatedly), most recently in 2005 in which Mike claimed that Brian (from 1967 to decades onward) did nothing but take drugs and collect royalty checks and did nothing to contribute to the band (which is entirely false - Brian worked on hits and albums all throughout this time).

Hate is too strong a word. Dislike is probably the better word. These are my reasons (many have already been discussed here, but if you're writing an article one more opinion may help):

Overall, I feel like there’s a general atmosphere of sleaziness that wafts from the Mike Love side of things. The tactless tabloid interview answers, the constant passive-aggressive comments about his cousin, his “we all need love and harmony in our lives" then he'll say “Brian is controlled and on prescription meds it used to be illegal street drugs blah blah”. When asked what is his greatest regret in life he talks about the faults of others. He constantly brings up Brian's past drug use - just last week Mike was asked about the disbanding of the Beach Boys after the C50 and his reply started with a statement about Brian's past drug use. He says he has so much respect for Brian's musical abilities but didn't take two minutes and 54 seconds of his life to listen to 'The Right Time' when he was asked to give his opinion about it (I should add that I believe this was an email exchange 'interview' so it's not like he was pressed for time). His complete lack of humility all while preaching how humility is the greatest trait to have is annoying (btw did you know Kokomo became a number 1 hit and that Brian had nothing to do with it?). I know we all have our shortcomings, but if you parade your supposed moral principles for the world to see expect backlash when your actions don’t quite add up to your mantra. In the past I've tried to keep an open mind about Mike. After my naive years of solely blaming him for the Smile collapse I actually defended him a few times on this very board. But the last few years of these interviews, as well as other things, have left me with a rather dour opinion of the man. And he has done absolutely nothing to change that opinion. No Mike, not even dropping a bunch of articles/interviews in one day that proclaim your love for your cousin will change the years of recorded tactless statements that you’ve made about him.

Also, I don’t need to know someone personally to dislike them. There are plenty of preachers and politicians who I find repulsive solely based on how they present themselves in the public spotlight. It’s a ridiculous notion that I need to know people personally to make such an opinion about them.

All of that being said, without him The Beach Boys probably wouldn’t exist…and all of us owe a huge thanks to him because of that. He helped craft some of my favorite tunes, and frankly I enjoy “I Know There’s An Answer” far, far more than “Hang On To Your Ego” so even his more critical outlook on Brian’s ‘60s art isn’t a real problem with me. If he didn't make such tactless comments in media outlets my opinion would possibly be very different.

*edit: wanted to add that the guy who asked the question which I answered with the quote above never ended up putting the rational arguments against Mike Love into his article. Anyone who spent time writing rational reasons for disliking Mike in that thread got ignored. This is also a HUGE reason why there is a lot of anti-Mike sentiment here and elsewhere: his fans are insufferable (as thorgil pointed out above). I don’t think anyone was surprised when Iain Lee ignored the logical reasons for the Mike Love hate - on the contrary it’s what we have come to expect from the ML apologists.

As someone pointed out above, there are many topics on this already...search around. I implore you to do your own research if you’re really interested in this topic. Many fans who have met him have nothing but nice things to say about him. Many who have worked with him will tell you he’s an asshole. Many who have just been around him think he’s a prick...I mean, when Bob Dylan makes a joke about your jackass behavior you know you’ve f***ed up.

Anyways, don’t take my or anyone else’s word for it. Read his interviews, scan over the lawsuits, watch the documentaries, read about his charitable donations, his interaction with fans. Come to your own logical conclusion about the man.

I never understand why everybody is so negative about ML. I never met him. I only saw him once performing live and he is a good showman and average singer for his age. I read his book but can i say i know ML. So does any ML hater/ basher knows him personal to get a good view of the man or do we all believe thats been written in the media? ...i like to hear the person who knows him petsonally and let us know how the man really is.

I love all beach boys songs and even the solo once. I cant wait to hear ML new solo release. And to be honest...i dont care how the front looks like, i never watch it when listning to the music :-)

I agree with others, you should simply do a search and read the myriad of threads covering this topic. You'll learn some potential answers to the questions you're (hopefully innocently) asking, and you'll also discover that this topic often quickly becomes inflammatory and turns into a whole ordeal. You'll also discover how folks could easily view starting a seemingly "innocent" topic like this as a sort of troll move. I'm not saying you're trying to do this, and I'm actually especially loathe to jump on a newer member/lighter poster and tell them to read through thousands of posts before raising a topic. I don't think someone should be expected to read hundreds of threads before bringing a topic up. But the "why do fans dislike Mike" sort of discussions are easy to search for and I would recommend simply doing that.

I would also say, whether justifiably or not, people might be more likely to think it's a bit troll-ish to start a thread on this topic when you've been a member of this board for almost 12 years as you have. It's like starting a "David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar" thread in a decade-old Van Halen forum, or starting a "Who's Cooler: Kirk or Picard?" in a Star Trek forum.

Addressing the original post and topic - Using the word "hate" in this context is opening up a can o' worms that has been opened many times before, and it's also assigning an assumption on people who voice negative opinions on something Mike does/doesn't do or say or whatever else that is a bit unfair. I'm speaking for myself but guessing a lot of fans feel this way too: It's not hate because I have gotten a lot of musical enjoyment from what Mike added to the BB's through the years. But I do strongly disagree with a lot of what he has said and done in that same time frame, and I don't think it's fair to charge me or anyone similar with being full of hate for the man because I/we disagree with the actions.

Keep in mind too that it's been tried (and failed every time) to tag this community of fans as the main source if not the origin of all the "hate", which is completely bogus if you take a look at any other media outlet reporting on anything Mike Love related and browsing the reader comments from the past several decades.

I'd also bring up the interesting aspect of why so many of the various board members who have histories of launching vendettas and personal attacks on other posters on this and numerous other BB related communities of fans seem to gravitate toward or even rally around the notion of either defending or trying to boost the legacy of Mike. Maybe there is no relationship at all, but it's suspicious and conspicuous how many of the same posters who have been kicked off or banned (or had threads/discussions deleted) across multiple fan forums seem to rally around defending Mike and end up resorting to personal insults, attacks, and outright lies in the name of that pursuit. It just struck me again as yet another dust-up happened on the Hoffman forum to name one, and the discussions ended up getting deleted by the admins over there...and the discussions centered around Mike's latest project with posts from some of the same names who have triggered deletions and bans in the past around similar topics. Connect the dots?

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“Some people think you have to knock somebody down in order to build yourself up, I don’t look at it that way. To the mentality that likes to disparage other people, I say perhaps you should get a life. It’s just wrong thinking in my opinion and I don’t mind saying that.” - Mike Love

"Every single person who criticized Brian for having She & Him, Kacey Musgraves, Sebu and Nate Ruess guesting on his solo album can now officially go heartily f*** themselves." - Wirestone

"I will never change with what I think happened in here and you will never convince me otherwise." - Dr. Beach Boy.

I am a huge fan of Mike Love. He's a great singer, songwriter, and frontman.

He can be a douche, and I'll call him out when he is- but he is human just like the rest of us.

All of the ML hate on this site bugs me to be honest.

Show us this widespread hate. Maybe the people who were trying to scrub anything and everything negative written about Mike from this site who failed and continue to fail in that pursuit can try to classify people voicing negative opinions of Mike as "hate" and try to diminish the fans here, but that doesn't mean it's so. It's going to keep failing as much as some of Mike's most ardent supporters try to defend attempts to rewrite history or change facts to suit.

If you want censorship of opinions or voices you don't like, there are other places which welcome that mentality.

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“Some people think you have to knock somebody down in order to build yourself up, I don’t look at it that way. To the mentality that likes to disparage other people, I say perhaps you should get a life. It’s just wrong thinking in my opinion and I don’t mind saying that.” - Mike Love

"Every single person who criticized Brian for having She & Him, Kacey Musgraves, Sebu and Nate Ruess guesting on his solo album can now officially go heartily f*** themselves." - Wirestone

"I will never change with what I think happened in here and you will never convince me otherwise." - Dr. Beach Boy.

I don’t hate the guy personally, I don’t know him, but I can’t help it but judge him over the way he names his albums... “Unleash The Love”? Seriously? We get it, his surname is Love, but he has to stop with the puns on his name... it’s getting redundant, for Love’s sake.

A few years ago, I started a similar topic called ‘The history of Mike Love’s reputation’. Personally, I don’t hate Mike. I actually respect him but disagree with some things he has said or done. Here is a time line of the negative things (rumors) about Mike and my thoughts.

1. Don’t f%€ with the formula - Many are convinced that Mike hated the musical changes starting with Pet Sounds. Mike has denied this, and in fact has praised the 66-73 era at times. He has had some critiques of songs, which as a member of the band has the right to do so.2. Mike’s corny on stage banter - A matter of opinion. Personally, I lik his on stage humor and think he is a good front man. With the exception of ‘wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen......’ intro to Be True to Your School.3. Talentless hack - While he might be the least talented member of the group, he did have talent. He has shown over the years that he is capable of writing a good song or lyrics in my opinion. I dislike most of the nestalgia songs though 4. Hall of Fame Speach - He was drunk at the time so I’ve heard 5. Lawsuit for song writing credits he wrote one word for - How do they know he wrote one word? Or phrase? And a hook line is an important part of a songs success. 6. Taking over The Beach Boys after Carl died and getting rid of Al - As voted by the legal parties. I believe the only anti vote was Al.7. Suing Al for using the Beach Boy Name - Despite his legal right to do so, I think this was a sorry move on his part.8. Suing Brian for giving away BB memorabilia and slander against him in the Brian Wilson presents Smile documentary - I can understand the slander part. But I think he lost this lawsuit anyway.9. Not wanting to continue the reunion when it seems the others wanted to. - I think Mike was offended that Brian’s handlers wouldn’t let him work with Brian alone. He still thinks Brian is manipulated and controlled similar to Landy years. Personally, I think those around Brian actually care about him now.10. John Stamos - If I were Stamos, I would do the same thing!

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"Over the years, I've been accused of not supporting our new music from this era (67-73) and just wanting to play our hits. That's complete b.s......I was also, as the front man, the one promoting these songs onstage and have the scars to show for it."Mike Love autobiography (pg 242-243)

I have said consistently that Mike is probably the one member of the band who would be great fun to have a drink or meal with. He seems to be a human adult in the way that Brian and his brothers — who achieved immense fame in their teens — never managed. Mike was a grown up before the success, and I think it means more to him because of that.

He has acted in ways that I, as a fan of the music and of Brian, disagree with most strongly. He has made it so difficult, sometimes, to give those actions the benefit of the doubt.

I am a huge fan of Mike Love. He's a great singer, songwriter, and frontman.

He can be a douche, and I'll call him out when he is- but he is human just like the rest of us.

All of the ML hate on this site bugs me to be honest.

Please just stop using the word "hate." As someone who has seen *over 20 years* of opinions on the internet about Mike, I have almost never seen actual *HATE.* Saying Mike was a dick in an interview isn't "hate." Saying his new single stinks isn't "hate." And so on.

I've often said that Mike is probably *great* to his friends and family (to sort of riff on a similar theme to what Wirestone mentioned above in his post). The animosity and disappointment among fans concerning Mike has mostly to do with his words and deeds *concerning the band* and its history.

As for being human like the rest of us, of course that's the case. That's something *Mike* should remember the next time he inexplicably reminds us that Dennis was an alcoholic 40 years ago in an interview promoting his show at the Cabbage Festival in Peoria.

...but I'll say this. He's awesome to the fans who want to meet him. I've met him twice and he gave me a lot of his time and was happy to sign my items and take pictures with me.

I'm at a point where I no longer give a sh*t about the relationship these guys have with each other.

I've often pointed out that Mike is great with fans in almost every public setting/story I've heard of. A few "behind the scenes" stories aren't flattering. But a typical fan interaction is uniformly great with Mike. He also *will* engage with journalists who have been critical of him; the problem *there* is that few will engage him in that realm.

There's only one person I've heard of among the BBs where there are *numerous* stories detailing negative fan experiences, and that is weirdly Bruce. Al is usually great, Dave is, Mike is, Brian has never been nasty with fans though he might be sometimes tired or detached or brief, etc.

In my experience, especially in recent years when a seemingly devoted, relatively "hardcore" fan", seems weirdly incredulous regarding the criticism and negatively surrounding Mike, it seems as though many of those types of fans have not been fans for very long. They've often taken a deep dive relatively quickly into the band over the course of maybe the last five years or so, maybe a bit more.

It's difficult to explain, but I think when a fan very quickly digests all of the history and criticisms and interviews and all of that, it dulls the impact of what Mike has done and said over the years.

Whereas, I've you've been a fan since the 80s or 70s or 60s, you've experienced a lot of it (or all of it) in real time and you're perhaps better able to weigh all of that against the long history of the band. You've perhaps cut Mike some slack and given him the benefit of the doubt many, many, many times only to be disappointed.

This disparity between long-time fans and newer fans also, sometimes, explains how some were kind of "meh, whatever" about the breakup of the reunion in 2012 while others saw both *how amazing* it was for them to reunite and then also realize how much of a wasted opportunity it was to let it die. If you digested every 70s and 80s BB album in the course of a few days or weeks or months, you didn't experience the constant disappointment of waiting for something good only to be met with "Crack at Your Love" or "Problem Child" or whatever, or waiting for a deep cuts tour only to be met with the same stale 28-song setlist over and over.

So, sometimes, stepping in after being a fan for only a few years, or only being a hardcore fan for a few years (or not really being a hardcore fan at all) and saying "I don't understand why Mike is criticized so much!" is sort of like stepping into a 30-year-plus family feud and talking to both sides for like ten minutes and then "explaining" to both sides why their gripes make no sense.

Hopefully that all makes a bit of sense. And this is really the polite, benefit-of-the-doubt examination of why someone might seem to not understand the heavy criticism of Mike. Because the alternative is simply a lack of ability to absorb and learn the history of the band.

Just wait til' the album interviews, how quick the conversation will go from I had all this music in me that just needed to come out, to I wrote almost all of the Beach Boy's lyric's and really should be the one who get's credit. I Michael E dward Love was the sixties. don't you know?

For all the very good and sometimes great contributions Mike made to the band, which every fan should acknowledge, Mike has undeniably been a thorn in Brian's side from a creative and personal perspective at many, many times along the way. And unapologetically so. That's the key thing.

Brian was stifled creatively in part due to his cousin. Not always of course. But at some very key moments. IMO, Mike was a contributing factor in some ways to some negative parts of Brian's life. I'd probably be more inclined to self medicate too with Mike as my omnipresent bandmate and family member.

That he's 76 and takes little to no responsibility for anything bad he's ever done personally and within the band is the main reason why people dislike him on many levels. Hate's way, way too strong a word for me, but I agree that there are plenty of people who would use that word with no problem. Mike's messed up and some of his problems stem from legit screwjobs that were out of his control, such as being unfairly denied credit, and he deserves some empathy for that. But lots of his actions are just inexcusable.

I think one of the biggest issues is that he has such a huge ego in comparison to how bad/average his solo work is. If he was how he is but was an equal talent to brian, i think a lot of the hate would go away. He has come up with some good lyrics (good vibrations probably the best) but I mean, the guy who made summer in paradise and hasn't written anything good in 30 years talks about himself like he's an equal to brian and paul mccartney, etc.

Hell, even Paul Mccartney is more modest in interviews and he is 100x more talented, imho.

I've never "hated" that love guy. I just have no respect for him. If being a complete and utter dick was a quality...HE'D be a king. You're read above about his penchant for achieving that claim to the throne. And YES he can be a decent guy with fans...particularly the lassies...when he's wants to 'do' that. But really. Be honest he's the least talented music guy in the group...and the worst lead vocalist. He has a tight circle of themes which he pens lyrics for and the recycle factor is aggravating to the nth degree.

Was it Wirestone who wrote this?..."He seems to be a human adult in the way that Brian and his brothers — who achieved immense fame in their teens — never managed." I think it was. You most obviously never spent ANY meaningful time with Carl Wilson. What a pile of shyte this assumption is.

To me that love guy...the one who now reigns over the Beached Boys...is mostly just the great pretender. THAT and a 1 trick pony...in a hat. And how can you hate THAT?

Good night. Sleep tight. Cheque please.

No...really...CHEQUE...please

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"Add Some...Music...To Your Day. I do. It's the only way to fly. Well...what was I gonna put here? An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Hum me a few bars." Lee Marshall [2014]

Donald Effin' TRUMP! "What a disaster." "Overrated?"... ... ..."BIG LEAGUE." "Lots of people are saying it" "Ask anyone...I will tell you." 2-faced arsewipist!!! Collusion, Money Laundering, Treason, Soon to be Perjurer, LIAR. And he's a fruit!!! I just can't figure out if he's an orange, a tangerine or a TURD covered with Spaghetti Squash. Either way...by this time next year he'll be living at the Crowbar Motel along with Jared and wee Donnie Jr